5 Things You Don't Know about this Quilter...

I'm thinking there are many things you could conclude from a diligent search of my posts, both here, and abroad on the wide wide wolrd of the internet, but today's request to post 5 "unknown" things abouto myself has prompted some soul searching. Here they are!:

1. Not totally hidden, but currently my day to day life work has been entirely taken up dealing with my Mom's care in a nursing home - she has Alzheimers, and is in "stage 5"... meaning, she sometimes knows me, and sometimes doesn't! She's mobile, but barely, and still is verbal... but her communication is often garbled. The challenge: enjoy her existence without judging, sadness, or fear... helping her to enjoy her own existence and feel as good as possible TODAY and in THIS MOMENT... She now lives in HER WORLD and the key is to try to enjoy that. Life continues.

2. Along with this, is helping my Dad to deal with this tragic circumstance, (he is five years older than Mom and NEVER expected this type of situation) and enjoy a newfound relationship with him.  I always felt closer to my Dad than my mom,we have a creative bent in common, and I hate to see him give up his life to try (in vain) to be a caregiver to her...

3. I have an exceptional addiction to speed, and a Red Miata which feeds my addiction. Up next:perhaps time to try my hand (foot?) at some amateur SCCA racing.... they PROMISED me a Jet Car... I wanted to learn to fly - but I'm stuck on the ground!

4. Today's visit to the "Common Threads" Quilt Shop in Waxahachie, Texas was one of the best "eye Candy" shopping experiences in many, many months... I HIGHLY recommend!

5. This really isn't so unknown, but, I can think of almost NO quilting projct that could possibly more rewarding than making a baby quilt for your local quilting charity... I try VERY hard to make a baby sized quilt EVERY month for the charity efforts of my home quilting guild: Austin Area Quilt Guild.Lately, I've been making "strip" quilts of my very vintage and NOT modern Kona colors!

6. (Who cares if I go one more it's MY BLOG!)... I really love the creative ethos of the "Modern Quilt Guild"... though I.  also really resist the urge to be cynical... after all, what could possibly be MORE modern than any quilt I made in 1969!?? Bring back Feminism I say.. and let's make it STICK this time. It's way past time for a Woman in the Oval Office!

7. I LOVE vintage sewing machines, and have been collecting, restoring, using and trading them for about 15+ years now. My favorite: the Model 15 Singers. Most often used: a pristing Singer Featherweight that is a joy to take to a workshop. And, my best find: my husband paid $5.00 for a Singer model 31-15, the "Tailors" machine - a professional 40 pound monster that eats through ANYTHING and is a joy to use for free motion work of any kind! It really needed a paint job, so now it is RED (of course) to match my car!

Piecing a Modern Armadillo

Great good fun this month.

Decided a couple months ago to enter a contest. The Modern Quilt Guild (www.themodernquiltguild.com)  did a call for quilt block entries for a raffle quilt. To be raffled off concurrent with QuiltCon, This new national (international?) organization of "modern" quilters is holding it first annual meet up right here in Austin in February of 2013, and I recently joined the local Austin Modern Quilt Guild. I guess I'm fueling my Geminic nature by playing in both the traditional quilt world that I know so well, and now the "Modern" quilt world. So I thought it appropriate that I enter the block challenge.

I decided the block needed to be "Texas-centric", and if possible somewhat "Austinish"... one of the first things to come to mind was the Armadillo. An animal somewhat unknown much outside Texas and the Southern US, but one that as come to symbolize Austin to some extent. In Austin, the armadillo is of course an almost prehistoric animal found typically dead on the side of the road, or (more often) mentioned as the name of an iconic music venue - known as "Armadillo World Headquarters" -  long closed, but symbolic of Austin's Texas music roots.

The rules were surprisingly specific (IMHO) for what should be a somewhat non-traditional design. The bloock needed to express the modern quilt esthetic, and be entirely pieced... no applique, which likely would have been my first construction choice for putting a critter on the block!

Not one to reinvent the wheel, I searched my library for an animal picture, or even a block pattern that might be adapted for piecing, I recall seeing various pieced animal blocks in a couple of my quilt block "history" books... animals blocks were very popular in children's quilts from the late 1920's until about  WWII.

I found not only a block, but specifically an Armadillo Block. It was not quite the right size, but certainly adaptable with a few changes and the addition of the QuiltCon logo colors...It was found in a 1986 book called "Creature Comforts" by quilt historian Barbara Brackman, and quilter Marie Shirer. The book rediscovered "Animal Blocks" from a number of historical quilt pattern sources, and presented them as "alphabet" blocks... the book is still available on Amazon, and worthy of addition to your quilting library!
 Here's a link...  http://amzn.to/WqHbTR

The design of the source design was for a single color, and the proportions didn't fit the requirements for my challenge block size, so some modifications were necessary...  Here's how the design ended up:

I felt like he really, REALLY needed an embroidered eye, but the rules said NO embellishment or applique, so the armadillo remained somewhat blind!



The block challenge was curated by Elizabeth Hartman, a Modern Quilt author (Modern Patchwork), and MQ blogger: www.ohfransson.com

In September, I was happily informed that my Dillo was to be included in the raffle quilt. And today, I received the happy view of the finished MQG raffle quilt - complete with Dillo - sitting in the lower right hand corner of the quilt top. Elizabeth apparently agreed with my assessment that 'dillo needed an eye, and she added not only the eye, but the date for the quilt in fine black embroidery.

Here's the finished quilt top - complete with dillo....

Here's  a link to the Modern Quilt Guild Blog with additional pictures, and Elizabeth's comments about my block. Can't wait til I can buy some raffle tickets - would be so nice to win this quilt eh?
http://themodernquiltguild.com/2012/10/02/quiltcon-block-challenge-quilt-top/

 

Workin' for a Living'...

First apologies to any single (and it must be single) reader that may be waiting oh-so-patiently for another post from this writer about Quilting, Life and such...

It has been way too long. Please accept my apologies for the almost unforgiveable 6 month lapse.

Let me reassure you that life, and quilting continue to go on, perhaps at a greater pace than ever before!  I must add too that "work"... I speak now of that "work" that we must all do to provide the means to quilting, pay the rent, fill up the tank - the work that may or may not be our greatest pride, or something that we wake up anxious to do each day... has taken a new turn for me.

In the past work was, well a bit too important part of my life. It was, well, almost a reason for being, something I looked forward to as, well my raison d'etre - that which defined my relative success, well being, and well, just darned important to my good spirits.

That changed fairly recently. Due to circumstances somewhat (though not totally) beyond my control, my work a day has become, well, just a work-a-day... something I will likely continue to do because I must, not because I WANT too.....What a difference a day makes.

But, be that as it may, I will try to focus on my quilting, and life... work, well, it just has to be - otherwise, we don't eat - or at least not well!

So what's on the sewing machine?  A "show" quilts - finishing up a quilt top that was, actually the first work I put together in Houston after I began re-discovering my sewing roots. A 1930's Sunflower quilt, I found the pattern in one of my earliest books acquired as I began to research quilting patterns. Called "Sunflower" it's  a variation of the old Dresden Plate Pattern...

With the deadline approaching for the September AAQG quilt show, I was growing a bit desperate - none of my recent UFO's (unfinished projects) really seemed appropriate for a "Wildflower" themed show entry... I turned to some older works and was rewarded with an almost forgotten "Sunflower".

Adding some "Blanket Stitching" to the top - then on to the quilting....This one's for me....

A Trip Back in Time... Sewing a "Portrait"

Happy 2012... another year!  Rather than a list of resolutions, a list of UFO's (unfinished quilting objects) to be tackled, I think I just decided to dive right in.
I want to continue honing my quilting skills this year, and am going to continue taking workshops from our AAQG (Austin Area Quilt Guild) speaker series. I've always benefited greatly from the offerings. On Sunday, I attended a workshop by Lola Jenkins, on Portrait Quilting. And it turned out to be not only a good exercise, but gave me some reassurance that skills long unused can be resurrected.

As a child, I remember admonitions that you'll never forget "how to ride a bike" or "how to use a hammer"... etc. I once learned the technique of rendering a portrait, in pastels, watercolor, and even the talent of cutting a silhouette from paper. I wish I could say this lead to a career in the arts, but alas, these talents were buried away, largely unused in my business life that ensued.  I learned and used these skills for 3-4 years in my late teens, as I worked for a subcontractor at Six Flags Over Texas, a "theme park" in the Dallas area. The contractor provided artists for "Art studios" located around the park.

As an "artist" I did quick portraits, in pastels, and watercolors of park visitors who were cajoled into taking 10-20 minutes of their day long park visit to sit for a portrait. Often the motivation was simply to take some weight off their feet and sit down for the time it would take! Young high school and college students were recruited for this largely summer work. Anyone who exhibited enough ability to make a decent line drawing during the job "interview" was hired. A short class on portraiture and the quick technique and we were on the job. I enjoyed the work, and got to be pretty good - if you could catch an individual's defining characteristics, you could end up with a line of people waiting for your work. As commissioned work, the money was good - much better than the usual teen work fare, and it kept me in college tuition for several years...so adapting those skills to that of my current tool (the sewing machine) and technique (free motion quilting) seemed natural.

Throughout the class, I was pleased to see that my old skills of not just drawing, but working on the human face were not lost. Here's the original picture, and the first result on fabric:

The exercise gave me some ideas on working in a little different style - more like "sketching" with the machine rather than just doing outlines.  It is exciting to see the picture emerge.

Here, you can also see my pencil work on the fabric that serves as  my guide for the sewing. I doubt I would ever get comfortable "drawing" directly on the fabric without pre-drawing, but who knows... if I got comfortable enough with the tools and my skills - it might be possible... stay tuned!

For those wondering what's going on here, it's really not as hard as it looks. I "Photo Shopped" the digital picture above into a"posterized" photo to reveal critical outlines. Printed to 8.5 x 11 inches in B&W, I traced the outlines for stitching in fine Sharpie (above) and pencil (version two below). 

The prepared fabric was  stabilized with a fusible interfacing, then layered with a thin cotton batting, and a backing layer. No pinning or basting. Then the drawn lines are sewn over in black thread with black bobbin - using free motion technique.

Overall, I'm pleased so far, though getting those eyes right are always a big challenge, but very important to success.

For more on Lola Jenkins work, visit her website: www.lolasdesignerquilts.com I would highly recommend her for anyone compemplating doing more "out of the box" quilting. A self-taught quilter, she isn't bound by all those "rules" that long time quilters have floating around in our ethos. Her unabashed enthusiasm for her art, and for sharing it others was an inspiration. Her personality was refreshingly different from the usual, more sedate one more typical of those of the past. I applaud the guild for going out on a limb to showcase a talent that doesn't fit the more typical quilter mold.

It's good to get out of the box - even if sometimes it means digging deep to pull out some new/old skills.

Happy New Year Y'all - may your 2012 be full of discoveries and re-discoveries!

A Good Quilt - That "Finished!" feeling...



"Log Cabin for a Friend"

 One of the best days a quilter has is always the day the quilt is finally finished. It's a day for pictures (for posterity mainly, but also to jog the aging memory down the road!), and also for reflection.

To that end, I'll post several pictures, and share a bit of my thought and work process on this quilt. It started as a means of using up some scraps, and a bit of a guilty feeling that I have not used some new tools bought at last year's Quilt Festival.  I also wanted to make a longtime personal and family friend, who's visited with us in the fall.

I've always wanted to do a log cabin based quilt, and My new year's resolution this year was to hone some skills and try to make a dent in the huge collection of scraps from years gone by and that regretful purchase some years back of a defunct long arm business' scraps (what  a mess - and another story).

A friend staying with us began the genesis of the desire to make a quilt for a gentleman... and so it began. He was allowed color choices, and he favors blue and tan/browns. And, since I like Reds, the red in the cabin centers and borders were a must. Let the quilt begin!

I used Marti Michell's Log Cabin Ruler and highly recommend it. Her book, Log Cabin ABC's was my source for technique. The "logs" are 1" which required 1-1/2 inch strips. Cut lengthwise, and cut to fit. This meticulous method really results in a flat, straight quilt. This sort of thing appeals to my occasional need for precision and control...something which I'm sure I must have inherited from my father - a meticulous Sign Painter. You haven't see precision until you've watch someone hand paint and gold leaf a name on a door... that today would rival something laser cut! I also think I was looking for a bit of control during a time of a bit of personal chaos... a quilt with lots of small pieces, requiring precision seemed just the Rx for the times.



The Quilting Begins



The piecing, 48 squares, with 15 strips each resulted in 720 pieces. Starting before Christmas, it took almost a month of evenings to piece, I originally was working towards at least 64 (8x8) blocks, but the routine nature of the project wore me out... and I decided on a timeless quilter's solution  - the replacement of  another round of blocks with a nice large border - the better to frame those lovely blocks - right!?



Several AAQG Workshops in this spring inspired my finishing: A Day long workshop with  Sharon Schamber got me thinking about how to add quilted feathers to the quilting design. I went into her workshop thinking to do a feathered border, and simply walking foot the blocks. Surprisingly, I came out of the workshop inspired to do something completely different: The blocks are quilted in free motion feathers, with the border done in an all over grid. Only the spines of the feathers were marked, with the feathers themselves entirely freehanded. The strips are used as a guide for each. It went fairly quickly. The grid posed other problems though. I decided to bury threads, and spent almost as much time hiding those ends as it took to do all the quilting! Next time I will do as Sharon advised, and just get it over during the quilting rather than waiting til the end.

Corner Detail

I was very happy with how easy the quilting went though, and how great it turned out. My Viking MegaQuilter performed perfectly.  I am soo happy with this machine as my go to quilter. Yes, I miss "red" my 1929's Singer 31-15, but she was just too temperamental to continue using. What is sad is that Viking had discontinued production of this model. I hope they aren't deserting the quilting machine market. Perhaps they'll just replace it with something better!



Finishing the Binding off with Piping and Blanket Stitch!



A workshop with Susan Cleveland on her great finishing techniques resulted in a tiny blue piped edge and a really, REALLY nice binding. I also used one of Sharon Schambers tricks: the use of  Elmer's WASHABLE School Glue to temporarily hold the binding in place on the back while I used a decorative blanket stitch on the front using my Designer Diamond. Using a tiny bead of glue and ironing the binding to the back provides  much better hold than using pins. It's virtually impossible to keep thing straight. Every time you pull a pin out, you get a tiny wobble... The "edge joining foot" kept everything in the right place as I sewed a blanket stitch from the front.  How's it look?

I decided to back the quilt with some appropriate odds and ends from my stash, with the musical fabric by Alexander Henry and the cherry prints "Life's a Bowl...." a nice bit of symbolism for my friend who loves music and life! My longtime friend, Russ Barnes will get his quilt AFTER I do the July AAQG July Show and Tell!

Back side of "Log Cabin for a Friend"

Label - A spare block, Machine Embroidered.

Feather Quilting Detail: Back

There must be a joke for quilter's about

 the "Two Best Days"... and one of them certainly is the day you finish a quilt... I'll think the other day is the day you see it hangin' in Houston. I'm happy to know both those feelings!   - Karen

Learning a "New" Thing or Two: Cotton Theory and a Good Teacher

I had the great pleasure to attend Austin Area Quilt Guild's "Gift of Quilting" workshops on Friday evening. Unfortunately, I only was able to extricate myself from a single day's work to attend. This wonderful two day event is put on every other year - in between "Show" years. The idea is to provide member-taught workshops, as a reward to volunteers (and members) who work so hard to make the biennial Quilt Show happen.

The workshop I signed up for was a 3 hour reversible quilted Table Topper, made using the Cotton Theory technique. Offered by veteran sewing and quilting teacher Nancy Voegele, I was hoping to not only pick some new quilting skills, but also to see an expert in action.  I was not dissapointed.
Here's my finished piece:

Table Topper: Dinner "Side"

Table Topper: "Breakfast" Side

The project entailed creating a reversible table quilt, the completed size is 15" x 26.5" wide. The technique is very unusual. The individual patchwork pieces are layered, front to back with quilting in between, then quilted, and combined in a most unusual way. Entire quilts can be constructed in this way, with the quilting done in concert with the piecing - eliminating the need to layer and piece the entire quilt - a difficult prospect for many quilters.

So, if you are having difficulty quilting a large quilt, this may be a great way to complete a quilt with just any resonably good quality Sewing Machine.

Another fun aspect to the technique is that it allows you the fun of using those often ignored decorative stitches to provide further embellishment as part of the assembly technique. I used several of the mock "hand embroidery" stitches in the construction process. I also used some of my new found piping skills (from my workshop in March with Susan Cleveland ) to add a small corded piping edgeing to the binding, To further gild the rose, I embellished the binding with a varigated blanket stitch...

 I am VERY happy with the way "DD" performed in this somewhat tricky maneuver.  I used the "blind hem" foot - which rode smoothly over the uneven piped edge with ease. The piping foot handled that chore wonderfully too!  If you've always wondered what those special feet can do for you, this project provided me with pretty compelling proof that the foot makes the difference in stitch quality. Here's a close up of those embellishments:

Decorative Stitch and Quilting Detail

Piped edge and blanket stitched binding - how about those corners?!

I give a big thumbs up to teacher Nancy Voegele, who really kept the class moving along (inspite of one totally unprepared student!). She handled the situation with grace and actually had at least one finished, ready to bind quilt done by a student. I had to add the final two parts to mine - so felt like I really did well in class.  Nancy teaches at a number of locations around Austin, including that cool new hip sewing lounge, Stitch Lab.

I was REALLY happy to have a completed project today - I am so close on several projects, including one full size quilt - stay tuned for an update as they get finished!

- Keep on Quilting...
- Karen

It's Fashion Week...

http://thesartorialist.blogspot.com/

A wonderful Blog... scroll down a bit to see the bit about Bill Cunningham. I've gotta get that documentary!  Fashion - it's something we live with, and see every day.

"We're all blank canvases when we get up in the morning and we paint ourselves."

"Fashion is the armour, to survive the reality of everyday life..."

An interesting view of the world far from the those of us out here in the "hinterlands"...